Residents shut down falling JS Moroka school

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Residents shut down falling JS Moroka school
DISGRACEFUL: It is mind shattering that 44 years after the youth of Mzansi laid down their lives in sacrifice for a better education some schools like the Ukukhanya Junior Secondary School near Siyabuswa are still in deplorable conditions. PICTURE Supplied

The school is located in the Maphanga village or Allemansdrift as it’s also called.


Residents in the JS Moroka municipality says the Ukukhanya Junior Secondary School in the area won’t be opened until government officials come down and renovate it…

The school together with the circuit were forced to bow down by angry residents last Monday morning 8 June 2020 while officials were preparing for schools re-opening across the province.

Residents said they value the education of their children but cannot risk their safety as officials also know the school is not good for learners to use and are shocked why children are told to go to it.

Ukukhanya is one of the many schools in the Mpumalanga province that have been neglected by corrupt officials who send their kids to well-maintained white private schools at the expense of the poor black people who vote for them every 5 years.

Despite a yearly budget of R54 billion, the Mpumalanga government is not attending to schools, hospitals, roads and sewer spillages – choosing instead to brand anybody who raises the issues as being paid to attack them.

READ: Vusi Shongwe decries state of Lindile Secondary

The schools were built by the Apartheid government and all that the post-1994 ANC government needed to do was just maintain them – but dololo… 

Residents shut down falling JS Moroka school
Agriculture MEC Vusi Shongwe visited Lindiwe Secondary School in Ermelo on 15 January 2020 and found the people’s school was not the same as the private one he sends his children to due to the unwillingness by ANC politicians to use their influence to make a positive impact in our society like those of most countries, preferring the kids of voters to learn in what looks like cattle kraals

This week 013NEWS was supplied with photos of Ukukhanya Secondary School, a week after another neglected school in eMalahleni was exposed on social media.

The residents of JS Moroka also leaked a letter written to MEC Bonakele Majuba, informing him about the closure “due to non-compliance”.

They inform him about the forced closure of Libangeni education circuit in the area after a meeting they had with school management and the school governing body about “the status of the school due to poor infrastructure”.

They say Ukukhanya doesn’t comply with Covid-19 safety rules and they won’t back down until at least 9 mobile classes are brought to the area.

Residents shut down falling JS Moroka school

Local leader William Mokwele said they are getting no response from Majuba and concerned by the department’s wholesale failure to comply to health and safety rules.

He said they want 9 mobile classes – ones which can accommodate 20 kids.

“We can’t risk the safety of our children. We will not back down until the department complies. No school, no circuit will open,” Mokwele said.

“It’s winter and there are no windows there. No we will not allow it, that’s not a school anymore,” he said.

Others issues concerning Ukukhanya are about –

• The use of people who are not from the area and are employed as screeners while the school has volunteers who have been with it for a long time.

• Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) for learners and teachers

• Staff and learners should be orientated

• School should be renovated while mobile classes are on site

(edited by ZK)

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